Duma to discuss aggressive rhetoric of Belarusian pres

MOSCOW, October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The State Duma will discuss on Wednesday a draft statement, connected with "the extremely aggressive rhetoric" of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, which is directed at the Russian leaders. A corresponding decision was made during the discussion of the working schedule of the Duma on Wednesday morning.

Alexei Ostrovsky, head of the Duma committee for the affairs of CIS and relations with compatriots, suggested the putting of the item on the agenda of the Duma meeting. "Since the extremely aggressive rhetoric was used against the Russian leaders and, consequently, against all the Russian people, which include people of various nationalities, and since we said on many occasions in this conference hall that we are building relations with the nations of the post-Soviet countries and not with their presidents, and that no one is permitted to arrogate the right to maintain relations with our country, our committee drafted a statement of the Duma on Russian-Belarusian relations. We suggest that it should be put on the agenda of the Wednesday meeting to be discussed at a fixed time - at 16.00," Ostrovsky said.

Viktor Ilyukhin, a member of the Communist faction, urged the MPs not to hurry up with the demarche. "It is the presidents who fell out, while we can set the two nations against each other. Russia and Belarus should not drift apart, following this hasty step," he said.

Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said, however, during the discussion that he had read the draft statement, and, in his opinion, it is aimed at strengthening Russian-Belarusian relations. After that Ostrovsky's suggestion was put to vote.

President Dmitry Medvedev said in his video blog on the Kremlin website on October 3 that Russia would take into consideration in its foreign policy the actions taken by Alexander Lukashenko, specifically, the anti-Russian tone of his electoral campaign and his dishonest or insulting statements. "This is a dishonest way to behave. Partners do not behave like that. We shall certainly take all that into consideration, when shaping our relations with the incumbent Belarusian president," Medvedev said.